About

The Arctic-News Blog describes the situation in the Arctic, highlighting the threat of albedo changes and large emissions of greenhouse gases due to decline of snow and ice and abrupt methane eruptions from the Arctic Ocean seafloor. Contributors to the blog all share a deep concern about the way climate change is unfolding in the Arctic and the threat that this poses for the world at large.

Posts cover topics such as sea ice, permafrost and methane clathrates, and will typically address recent developments on such topics. Posts are typically left as they are, in order to provide an archive on such developments. To find posts on a topic, a list of labels (or keywords) is added in the panel on the right hand side.

In addition to posts, the Arctic-News Blog contains pages that provide general background on topics. These pages are updated from time to time to reflect new developments. A list of pages is included in the panel in the right hand side. Further blogs, pages at facebook and groups at facebook are mentioned below. Note that only posts at this blog will show up when doing a label search.

Further blogs and facebook pages and groups set up and moderated or edited by Sam Carana include:

These blogs, pages and groups may focus on specific topics, such as the threat of methane eruptions from the seafloor of the Arctic Ocean and ways to reduce the risks. To find out more on such specific topics, it's therefore a good idea to also visit these blogs and groups.

Posts at the Arctic-News Blog generally contain content that is provided by contributors. Content is often based on news releases of relevant scientific studies and on data from sources such as NOAA and NASA. Posts are often illustrated by images that are edited or custom-made by Sam Carana.

The Arctic-News Blog operates without income from donations or advertising, using free online facilities. Contributors and supporters neither pay nor receive money for their support or for contributions to be posted. The way the Arctic-News Blog operates underlines the point that anyone can speak out on issues of importance, and can do so even without support from academic institutions or financial sponsors. Furthermore, the way the Arctic-News Blog operates enables concerns to be posted without the often prolonged periods of review and editing that are common when publishing articles in scientific journals. In this way, the Arctic-News Blog offers an alternative to mainstream media that often feature talking heads and news reports that are sensationalized and seek to please advertisers and sponsors, rather than that they had anything of substance to say.

Note that clicking on above names will produce both posts written be the respective contributor as well as posts that may merely mention the name of a specific contributor. As editor, Sam Carana may add posts written by a specific contributor, in which case the name of the respective contributor will typically be added at the top of posts, accompanied by a description with further background on the contributor.

Contributors each express their own view and care has been taken that links are added to the most relevant sources, where applicable. Posts are written by Sam Carana where no name of a specific contributor is added at the top. Where views among contributors differ significantly, points can be added to the Controversy Page, to further clarify the views of specific contributors.

- Paul Beckwith - part-time professor with the laboratory for paleoclimatology and climatology, teaches climatology/meteorology and does PhD research on 'Abrupt climate change in the past and present' at University of Ottawa. See Paul's videos at youtube and website at PaulBeckwith.net

- Dr. Jennifer Francis - Research Professor at the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University, where she studies Arctic climate change and the link between the Arctic and global climates. jenniferafrancis.com

If you'd like to be added as contributor, or would like to discuss this blog's content privately, send a private message to facebook.com/SamCarana

Support and discussion

Supporters of the Arctic-News Blog are encouraged to set up or join local groups working along the lines of the Climate Plan. An overview of relevant facebook groups is displayed at the top of this page. You are encouraged to comment and discuss things at the Arctic-news group.

1 comment:

The Climate Plan calls for comprehensive action through multiple lines of action implemented across the world and in parallel, through effective policies such as local feebates. The Climate Plan calls for a global commitment to act, combined with implementation that is preferably local. In other words, while the Climate Plan calls for a global commitment to take comprehensive and effective action to reduce the danger of catastrophic climate change, and while it recommends specific policies and approaches how best to achieve this, it invites local communities to decide what each works best for them, provided they do indeed make the progress necessary to reach agreed targets. This makes that the Climate Plan optimizes flexibility for local communities and optimizes local job and investment opportunities.

Videos

Global temperatures are rising fast. In the Arctic, temperatures are rising even faster (interactive charts below and right). For 2010 and 2011, NASA recorded anomalies of over 2°C at higher latitudes (64N to 90N), with anomalies of over 3°C at latitudes 79N and 81N in 2010.

For November 2010, anomalies of 12.5°C were recorded at latitude 71N, longitude -79 (Baffin Island, Canada). At specific moments in time and at specific locations, anomalies can be even more striking. As an example, on January 6, 2011, temperature in Coral Harbour, located at the northwest corner of Hudson Bay in the province of Nunavut, Canada, was 30°C (54°F) above average.